Sharleen Spiteri (sex worker)
Sharleen Spiteri was an HIV+ sex worker, who became the focus of significant media, public and New South Wales Government attention in Australia after appearing on the 60 Minutes television program in 1989, where she revealed in an interview that she sometimes had sex with clients without revealing her illness or using condoms.[1][2]
After the 60 Minutes program went to air, Sharleen was forcibly detained by New South Wales Police and Health Department authorities, using an obscure section of the Public Health Act (Section 32a), originally intended for the control of tuberculosis. She was kept in detention in Prince Henry Hospital's AIDS ward, and then Rozelle Mental Hospital for several weeks.
Into the early 1990s Sharleen's case continued to spark national public debate. A new law was introduced in New South Wales, colloquially known as 'Sharleen's Law' where informed consent prior to sexual intercourse was required.
Although there were many other sex workers in the community who were also HIV+, in similar situations and known to authorities, after her initial release Sharleen came under subsequent public health orders (as well as other agreements undisclosed by the NSW Health Department), spending much of the remaining 16 years of her life under supervision of health workers as a public patient of the NSW Health system. She died in 2005.
References
- ↑ "ABC Radio National Hindsight program 'Shutting Down Sharleen' (2010)". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ↑ Learning to trust: Australian responses to AIDS By Paul Sendziuk. Books.google.com. 1991-07-01. Retrieved 2012-05-22.